Text: Mingsheng
Hong Kong used to have Chinese film and television works in his hands, and he has the reputation of Oriental Hollywood, but it is a pity that all is in the past; just look at more than 200 Hong Kong-produced films released a year in the 1990s, which has been reduced to less than 60 in recent years, which fully reflects the The degree of industry shrinkage, because there is no demand, there is no supply. Recently, the 8-year-old sci-fi masterpiece " Tomorrow's War " was released, which has raised concerns about whether Hong Kong-produced films can reinvigorate and start anew - unfortunately, the initial answer seems to be negative.
Hong Kong box office is impressive!
Mainland box office eclipsed?
"Tomorrow's War" has a good box office in Hong Kong. The film was released for three weeks and earned 60 million Hong Kong dollars. It became the box office champion of Hong Kong films during the year and ranked among the top ten box office charts in history. The outside world is unanimously optimistic that this film has the opportunity to challenge a higher position and even break the record of HK$66.82 million set by the top " Chill II".
However, to analyze Chinese-language films, one cannot just look at Hong Kong’s local achievements. After all, the mainland is the largest market—especially considering the 400 million cost of “Tomorrow’s War”, Hong Kong alone will inevitably lose money, and the mainland is the film’s source. main battlefield. The box office of this film is about 700 million yuan, which is not tarnished to a certain extent, but compared with another major work "Lone on the Moon" released in the same period, the latter's box office exceeded 3 billion yuan. A Hong Kong-produced film " Detective War " also received more than 700 million yuan, which shows that "Tomorrow's War" is really disappointing.
The box office of "Tomorrow's War" costing 400 million is not ideal.
why? "Tomorrow's War" is advertised with Hollywood-level special effects, but in fact, the film was filmed as early as 2017, and the post-production was carried out in Hong Kong for 4 years. Many special effects scenes in the film are probably outdated. Moreover, the mainland is not Wuxia Amon, the production level has long been improved, and there are many similar sci-fi masterpieces. " Wandering Earth " released in 2019 is an example - ironically, this film happened to be the same as "Tomorrow's War". Filming started in the same year, but the latter was released three years later.
did not succeed in breaking through the theme
The problem is serious
Or ask, even if the results of "Tomorrow's War" are disappointing, doesn't the success of "Detective War" prove that Hong Kong-made films are not dead? The symbolic significance of "Tomorrow's War" lies in whether this film, which is touted as "the largest sci-fi masterpiece in Hong Kong's history", can open up a new world for Hong Kong-produced films; The same is true for the well-known police and gangster films, "Rage", which grossed 1.3 billion yuan at the mainland box office last year. From a macro perspective, Hong Kong's economy is mainly based on the financial industry, which has been criticized as "paying for the old", and the development of innovative technology seems to be powerless; on a microscopic level, Hong Kong's film and television industry is not "paying for the old", except for police and gangster films. No survival skills?
There are a number of Hong Kong directors who are quite popular in the mainland and have a wide range of themes; however, their works are often not purely Hong Kong-produced films, but co-productions mainly shot in the mainland and starring mainland actors. For example, " Changjin Lake ", which topped the box-office chart in mainland history, was directed by two Hong Kong directors, Tsui Hark and Lin Chaoxian , but Lin Chaoxian's " Red Sea Operation " also once topped the box office chart. In addition, Zhou Xingchi 's " Mermaid ", Liu Weiqiang's 's " China Captain ", Zeng Guoxiang's 's "Youth of You", etc., but in all these movies, there are very few Hong Kong elements involved, many No one calls it a Hong Kong-made film. For pure Hong Kong-produced films to be prosperous in the Mainland, it is not that there is a lack of success formulas, but it is not enough to rely on a successful formula for police and gangster films; ”, “Police Story” and so on, the innovation space for Hong Kong-style police and gangster films has become narrower and narrower, and it is gradually coming to an end.
Hong Kong movies all have the problem of "feeding on the old" whether it is the subject matter or the actors. Another problem exposed by
"War of Tomorrow" is not only that there is no breakthrough in the subject matter, but also the problem of "paying for the old" with the actors. isn't it? The protagonists of Hong Kong stars in the play are 52-year-old Gu Tianle , 58-year-old Liu Qingyun , 57-year-old Carina Lau ; as for the younger ones, they are all mainland actors. Just as the mainland's film and television works have already seen the blue, and a large number of "post-00s" new generations have emerged, but Hong Kong is still dominated by the old Huang Zhong of the previous generation. It's not that Lian Po and are old and useless, but the situation in Hong Kong is worth worrying about. In fact, several Hong Kong directors listed above are all over 60 years old or even over 70 years old, and the youngest Zeng Guoxiang is also 42 years old. Last year, the two male protagonists of "Rage" were ridiculed that the 40-year-old Nicholas Tse wanted to compete with Donnie Yen, who was nearly 60 years old; this year's "Detective War", Liu Qingyun, Cai Zhuoyan , Lin Feng three protagonists All are over 40 years old.
In addition to movies, Hong Kong stars who have been popular on mainland TV in recent years, such as those invited to participate in "'s sister " and "'s brother ", were mainly active in the 1990s. From another perspective, what are the "post-00s" active Hong Kong stars that can enter the mainland market well? The answer is no. One type is to go north completely and no longer pay attention to the Hong Kong market; the other type is just in the ascendant. For example, the new singers who participated in "The Voice", whether they can succeed or not remains to be verified by time. There is no doubt that the above-mentioned Hong Kong stars in the 1990s were fortunate to catch up with Hong Kong-produced films, as well as Hong Kong dramas and Hong Kong music still popular in the mainland.
The new singers who attended "The Voice", whether they can succeed remains to be verified by time.
Or ask, does it count as success if it has been successful in the Mainland? The definition of success, of course, should not focus on the mainland. In recent months, in addition to the aforementioned "Tomorrow's War" and "The Detective War", there are actually a number of Hong Kong-produced films that have recorded tens of millions of box office in Hong Kong, including "Ama's Second", "Hot Family" and "Rice" "Playing the Heart" and "The Edge of the Mountain" - I believe that mainland friends will be unfamiliar with such movies. Its box office is good, and the reason behind it cannot be ruled out that thanks to the "anti-epidemic labor", the citizens of Hong Kong who are trapped in small Hong Kong urgently need to find entertainment - compared with the Hong Kong-produced films that have received tens of millions of box office in the past two years, there are only 3 and 5 respectively. This shows how "unusual" the box office has been these days. In addition, the success of related films in Hong Kong highlights another dilemma in the Hong Kong film and television industry—politicization.
Politicization is a disaster for Hong Kong film and television
Narrow vision, blind support, and difficult cooperation
Hong Kong, which has experienced major political turmoil, has become a pan-politicized and highly politicized society. The so-called pan-politicization means that political thinking is pervasive, including viewing film and television works and even artists from a political perspective; the so-called high-level politicization means that the consciousness of the enemy and the party is the same as the enemy. The other side, at the same time, is blindly touting to fellow travelers, and sings well regardless of quality. In fact, the above-mentioned films that entered the mainland were all labeled as "blue silk films", which were also equated with co-production films; on the contrary, those that did not enter the mainland voluntarily or by force were regarded as "yellow silk films". "The film", including the actors and directors of Huangsi's favorite actors and directors participated in the production.
Hong Kong-produced films are going from bad to worse. In addition to the fact that they cannot advance, they will retreat. Political reasons are also the source of the disease. Whether or not to enter the mainland is not the key to success; however, if there is not enough box office revenue, how can it support larger-scale and higher-quality productions? Needless to say, if there is no box office support of 100 million yuan in the mainland, there will be no investors willing to spend hundreds of millions to shoot. Conversely, if the box office is expected to be in the millions or tens of millions, the movie is destined to be limited to cooking and cooking. This is a very real problem. When the drama budget of a multinational streaming platform has easily reached hundreds of millions of dollars, it is really embarrassing for Hong Kong-produced films to stay on a small scale of several hundred and tens of millions of Hong Kong dollars!
Hong Kong experienced major political turmoil, has become a pan-politicized and highly politicized society.
In fact, politicized thinking has also narrowed the horizons of Hong Kong-produced films. Some people think that Hong Kong-produced films (yellow silk films) only need to take care of local (yellow silk) audiences. Let’s jump out of the political frame first. The reason why the Korean film and television industry has attracted much attention in recent years is precisely because it has rushed out of the world. TV) and other awards. If, on the one hand, he praises the development of Korean film and television, and denounces that Hong Kong must learn, but on the other hand, he only knows how to keep warm by the fireplace, and his eyes are like beans willing to give up the overseas market, then is it not destined that Hong Kong-produced films will shrink more and more? The reason why Hong Kong-produced films were popular in the past was also due to the capture of every Chinese region, and every Hong Kong star was well known in the world. Today's Hong Kong may not be able to return to the past, but at least we should look farther and focus on the Greater China market. There is nothing wrong with it.
There is another bad phenomenon related to politicization, which is support culture. There is a trend now that every Hong Kong-produced film must be supported, especially the yellow silk film. After all, most of the audience who enter the theater are young people, so the yellow silk film is easy to benefit from this, and the blessing effect of the blue silk film is relatively small. The crowd support may have a stimulating effect on the short-term box office, such as the tens of millions of box office movies mentioned above; however, the deep impact of blind singing cannot be ignored. Whether it is right or wrong, if it exists, it will be changed, and if it has not, it will be encouraged. It is the driving force for the continuous improvement of the film and television industry; whether it is good or bad, it will lead to a decline in quality in the long run. It is believed that only using the banner of "yellow silk" can attract audiences, and it may be effective temporarily, but the so-called "how to know horsepower", just as the so-called "yellow economic circle" is gradually declining, in the final analysis, there is still the natural fragrance of musk. The quality of Hong Kong-produced films has declined, and "Tomorrow's War" is also a reflection - it pays too much attention to special effects, so that other fundamental connotations such as the script are too despised, which is also the main reason for the film's poor reputation; the film has a high box office in Hong Kong, The mainland box office is relatively poor, and to a certain extent, it is the evil result of the support culture, so that the film lacks bosom friends except in Hong Kong.
The battle between yellow and blue has turned into a "generation battle". The politicization of
also brings a dilemma, that is, the film and television industry is no longer united, and it is difficult for different camps to cooperate. It is difficult for actors and actresses to be on the same stage and in the same frame, and the directors, producers, and even filmmakers also go their separate ways. Connected. For example, the yellow silk films, which are mainly young people, are difficult to find old actors, thus lowering the quality of the performance; the blue silk films, which are mainly composed of old actors, lack freshness due to the lack of new actors. One of the reasons why "War of Tomorrow" had to be supported by young mainland actors. The politicization of Hong Kong has turned into a "generational war". Pan-politicization and high politicization also undermine the development of film and television. It seems that film and television platforms with different political views and age groups must fight to the death. The situation is more serious than the so-called counterparts such as enemy countries. many. The elders help the younger generation to ensure the handover of green and yellow; at the same time, the younger generation respects the elders, which is also the due meaning of the fire.
Where are the Hong Kong films going? "Tomorrow's War" attempts to provide answers, but itself is not successful. Perhaps, failure is the mother of success, and it is precisely with the experience of "Tomorrow's War" that latecomers can better adapt to it. There is nothing wrong with this film, and the footprints left behind will lead Hong Kong-made films to go more steadily and go further.
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